English versions of the following articles are available online

Title: 100 covers, 100 possibilitiesAuthor: Carolina Valenzuela. Architect and Master of Architecture UC (2005). Master in Editorial Design and Digital Projects, Escuela Superior de Diseño de Barcelona and Universidad Internacional de Valencia (2017). Digital graphic design studies, MacPC Academy (2015). Has been art director and independent graphic editor of both printed and digital publications, professor at courses related to architecture and design and a collaborator for architectural offices in the elaboration of graphic material for publication. Since 2003 works at Ediciones ARQ, where she is currently graphic editor.Abstract: A magazine is a means of communication. Therefore, beyond what or who will be published, its first duty is to define ‘how.’ In that logic, the cover is a key feature: since it is the first thing that a reader sees, it must be able to capture attention and convey its own identity.Keywords: magazine; logo; reader; format; graphic.[read more…]

Title:
99%Author: Fabrizio Gallanti. Italian architect and critic based in Montreal, Canada. He is professor at the School of Architecture of McGill University. In 2003, along with Francisca Insulza, he founded the experimental studio FIG Projects, which explores the boundaries between architecture, urban research and visual arts. FIG Projects curated the exhibition The world in our eyes at the 2016 Lisbon Architecture Triennial. Gallanti is currently researching on the relationship between economic growth, urban development and architectural production in Latin America, with the help of fellowships by the Mellon Foundation and the Graham Foundation.[read more…]

Title: Selection PracticesAuthor: Alberto Sato. Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, 1972. Magister Scientarum, Historia de la Arquitectura, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1996. Doctor in Architecture, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 2006. Has taught in several Latin American universities and was director of the Centro de Investigaciones Históricas y Estéticas at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, and dean of the Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile. He recently published the book Heads/Tails (Ediciones ARQ, 2015). He is currently professor in the Facultad de Arquitectura, Arte y Diseño at the Universidad Diego Portales and in the School of Architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.Abstract: For 30 years – between 1980 and 2010 – ARQ magazine was directed and edited by the architect Montserrat Palmer Trias. This text analyzes her legacy, through the 76 issues under her direction, emphasizing not only the risks she took by giving space to young architects to the detriment of more established colleagues, but also the drives – rational or sensitive – behind the editorial stakes she took during her period in the journal.Keywords: curatorship; wood; journal; critique; Postmodern.[read more…]

Title:
A Patrician Genealogy of Chilean Architecture in the 20th CenturyAuthor: Diego Grass. Architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2010. Since 2014 is a professor at that same institution. Since 2006 collaborates with Felipe de Ferrari in architectural audiovisual records, founding the OnArchitecture database in 2011 (www.onarchitecture.com). In 2012 founded Plan Común. Has been working on architectural projects together with Thomas Batzenschlager since 2017.Abstract: In ancient Rome, Patricians were those who constituted aristocracy, given their direct – sanguine – relationship with the founding fathers. From this idea, diagramming a genealogy of Chilean architecture not only allows to ‘locate’ each character within her/his networks – whether based on connection, friendship or support – but also allows to ask ourselves how many degrees of separation exist between this supposed aristocracy and the 99 % of those architects that are not on this map.Keywords: diagram; generations; history; aristocracy; schools.[read more…]

Title:
Possible roles of women architects in the materialization of architecture in ChileAuthor: Romy Hecht. Architect and Master in Architecture, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 1998; PhD in History and Theory of Architecture, Princeton University, 2009. Has been a researcher at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. (2015, 2017-2018) and visiting professor at Harvard University (2012), Universidad Nacional de Rosario (2016) and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Lima (2017). Her essays have been published in Retorno al Paisaje (Evren, Spain, 2008) and Arquitectura en el Chile del siglo XX: Iniciando el nuevo siglo 1890-1930 (Ediciones ARQ, Chile, 2016) and in the journals New Architecture (China), Harvard Design Magazine (USA), Studies in the Histories of Gardens and Designed Landscapes (UK) and ARQ, Revista CA, Revista 180 y Trace (Chile). With Danilo Martic, translated John B. Jackson’s The Necessity for Ruins and other Essays (Ediciones ARQ, 2012). She is co-founder of the website LOFscapes (www.lofscapes.com) and the NGO Cultura de Paisaje en Chile (www.culturadepaisaje.com). She is currently a researcher in Fondecyt Project 1160277 and Tenure Professor at the School of Architecture UC.Abstract: Despite having re-emerged strongly in 2018, the debate on the role of women in society is not new. Neither is in architecture. Based on a research work conducted 18 years ago, the following text reflects on the invisibility of women in ARQ’s history and, from there, on the way we understand the discipline and the profession.Keywords: woman; profession; visibility; feminism; #MeToo.[read more…]

Title: Structural notionsAuthor: Cristián Izquierdo. Architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2009. MSc Advanced Architectural Design, Columbia University, 2014. He received the Honor Award for Excellence in Design and the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize. Works independently since 2010. In 2012 he joined as partner in Izquierdo Lehmann architects. His projects have been published and exhibited in Chile and abroad, including the MoMA in New York (Young Architect Program, 2015) and the exhibition “Extra-Ordinary” at CFA New York (2016). In 2015, his Futrono House project was awarded in the xix Bienal de Arquitectura de Chile. He currently serves as a professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.Abstract: Structure is what allows something to endure. That is probably why the word is equally useful for buildings or ideas: in the former, structure is what allows them to stand upright while in the latter is that which allows organizing the arguments. However, there are examples – such as those on this selection – where both notions go hand in hand: when an idea on structure is materialized in a physical construction.Keywords: ideas; civility; geography; strategy; composition.[read more…]

Title: The first stone, Laid or ThrownAuthor: Patricio Mardones. Architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (1999), Art Studies at the same University (1993). Was director of Ediciones ARQ between 2011 and 2015. Has developed editorial and curatorial projects on contemporary Chilean architecture in collaboration with magazines such as Icon (England), Mark (Holland), Dwell (USA ), 2G (Spain), The Plan (Italy), AU (Brazil), Casabella (Italy), Azure (Canada), Oris (Croatia), among others. His works include the SLGM Documentation Center Library at the School of Architecture UC (together with Cecilia Puga, 2007), the new Crypt for the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago (associated with Rodrigo Pérez de Arce and Sebastián Bianchi, 2006). Together with Cecilia Puga and Paula Velasco, he was awarded first prize at the competitions for the public use infrastructure at the Queulat National Park in Aysén (2016) and Punta Arenas Cruise Terminal (2017). He is currently a professor at the Universidad Andrés Bello and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and is a board member of Fundación de Arquitectura Frágil in Santiago.Abstract: A journal introduces projects through its graphic, photographic or written representations. But this exercise can also be understood as a project in itself, through which the journal offers a way of seeing and interpreting architecture. We present here cases in which ARQ took chances and, in doing so, understood these projects through its own.Keywords: author; description; curatorship; publishing; editorial.[read more…]

Title: The Architecture of Spatial JusticeAuthor: Pía Montealegre. Architect, Master in Architecture and Doctorate in Architecture and Urban Studies, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Director of Research and Publications, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Universidad Finis Terrae. Her lines of research relate to urban history, public space, landscape and memory. She teaches courses on theory and practice of urban planning in various universities in Chile. Likewise, she has professional experience related to the design of public spaces.Abstract: In the second decade of the 21st century, there is a certain consensus that architecture has a close – rather ontological – relationship with politics. However, when we ask which political option certain architecture defends, debate sparks off. The following selection of ten projects includes those cases where creation, opening, and formalization of spaces – what architecture does – has been a way of approaching an ideal of social justice.Keywords: politics; social role; ethics; equity; public.[read more…]

Title:
Back to presentAuthor: Cristóbal Palma. Architecture studies at the Architectural Association in London, where he began his career as a photographer. In 2008 he moved to Santiago and founded Estudio Palma.Abstract: Photography can be understood as a visual register made on a specific moment, as much as architecture publication can be seen as the register of debates and discussions of a particular time. Starting from the project archive of 99 issues of ARQ, this selection does not aim to show how selected buildings have aged but rather how our perception of them has done it.Keywords: photography; everyday life; age; offices; postmodernity.[read more…]

Title: Caring Time, Making Time, Spacing TimeAuthor: José Quintanilla. Architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (1993); Doctor in Architecture, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Spain (2004). Since 2011 is a professor at the School of Architecture UC, where he is responsible for the first year undergraduate courses and one of the masters’ studios. It was an option to make compatible professional development with the academic chores. He is co-author of the book Los Hechos de la Arquitectura (Ediciones ARQ, 2000) and the Academic Building of the Faculty of Arts UC (2015).Abstract: To the extent that it stores the concerns of different eras, a journal is a type of heritage that admits multiple readings – for example, when looking through that archive for concerns the built heritage. Or even, when speaking about an academic journal, by observing an aspect that is usually overlooked: that teaching is not only a way of caring for heritage, but also, it is in itself a heritage to be taken care of.Keywords: heritage; care; teaching; school; journal.[read more…]

Title: Alternative practicesAuthor: Camila Reyes. Architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2013); Master in Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture from Columbia University, USA (2017). Her work has been published in The Avery Review, ARQ, and in an edited volume of essays titled And Now: Architecture Against a Developer Presidency (Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, 2017). She is currently a Ph.D student in the program of History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton University, USA.Abstract: Disciplines – including architecture – have flexible limits, which are modified according to new discourses and practices. The cases that defy these limits remain as ‘alternatives’ until they are internalized and become part of the status quo. A magazine like ARQ should also promote those examples that attempt to challenge the limits of each moment; this selection brings up ten cases in which this has happened.Keywords: discourse; practice; order; discipline; limits.[read more…]

Title: Projects and SchoolAuthor: Wren Strabucchi. Architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 1991. PhD in Architecture, Cambridge University, England, 2001. Has published essays and articles for the magazines ARS, CA and ARQ. He has been editor of the book 1984-1994 Cien Años de Arquitectura en la Universidad Católica de Chile (Santiago, 1994), and author, along with Sandra Iturriaga, of Lo Contador. Casas, jardines y campus (Santiago, 2012). Professor at the School of Architecture UC, Chile. Lead researcher at VRI-UC projects, and co-researcher in Fondecyt projects related to the history of Santiago.Abstract: Despite being an institutional publication, ARQ magazine has an ambiguous condition: it is not the means for broadcasting the institution to which it belongs, but neither has it been alien to the academic debates in which its existence is framed. The ten projects offered here represent the diversity of transfers between the journal and the school, forming a complex inclusión-exclusion relationship.Keywords: landscape architecture; intuition; profession; discipline; lessons.[read more…]

Title: Ahead of Their TimeAuthor: Nicolás Stutzin. Architect, Universidad de Chile, Chile (2006), Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design and Diploma in Advanced Architectural Research, Columbia University, USA (2011). Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, Universidad Diego Portales and Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.Abstract: We usually understand magazines as news repositories, publishing what we do not yet know and is important to see. But they are not just that. A magazine can also rescue something from the past and bring it into a present discussion. Or it can honor what should have been known but was not appreciated in its time. The following selection presents the cases when ARQ magazine took this last option.Keywords: future; past; present; history; transcendence.[read more…]

Title: Chile’s National Library, a hundred years late, a hundred years afterAuthor: Alejandra Celedón. Architect, Universidad de Chile, 2003. MSc Advance Architectural Studies, the Bartlett, ucl, 2007. PhD Architectural Association, 2014. Curator at stadium, Chilean Pavilion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale and co-editor of Stadium: A Building to Render the Image of a City (2018). Since 2016 is a professor and researcher at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile on geopolitical, territorial and architectural strategies undertaken during the eighties in Santiago related to domesticity (Conicyt 2016-2018). Her latest publications include “Half-Plan” in San Rocco 11, “Footprints” and “Margarita”, both in ARQ. Gabriela García de Cortázar. Architect, University of Chile, 2006. MA in Architectural History, the Bartlett, ucl, 2010. PhD Architectural Association, 2017. Has practiced architecture in Chile and her work has been exhibited in London, Rome and Santiago. Between 2012 and 2016 taught History and Theory at the AA. She is currently a professor at the masters program at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and in the first year studio at Universidad Diego Portales. Among her publications are “Margarita”, in ARQ 95 and “Palladian Feet”, in AA FILES 73. In 2017 she was the guest editor of Materia Arquitectura magazine, on the subject ‘Theory’.Abstract: Built to celebrate the country’s centennial – though opened a few years later – the Chilean National Library is reaching one hundred years. A building with the ambition of hosting all the printed production of a country requires a particular architecture. However, is the country the same than a century ago? Are the enlightenment ideals behind a building like this still valid? In the end, what is a national library and what it can be today?Keywords: institution; inventory; building; deposit; catalogue.[read more…]

Title: Ten by ten squares: Santiago in La Gran Capital and the visual imagination of the speculative cityAuthor: Gonzalo Carrasco. Architect, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2001. Doctorate in Architecture and Urban Studies UC, 2015. Adjunct Assistant Professor UC. Has taught courses on Theory, History and Criticism in various architecture schools in Chile. Together with the Uruguayan architect Pedro Livni runs the website vostokproject.com. With him also participated as curator of the Uruguayan pavilion for the 13th Venice Biennale (2012).Abstract: A view of Santiago divided into 10 × 10 squares is offered in La Gran Capital, the local version of the famous game Monopoly. Faced with this abstraction, which reduces urban complexity transforming the city into entertainment, the question that should be asked is not only what is left out of that game, but also what those 10 × 10 squares hide: namely, the reduction of the logics of liberal economy to a simple game where, curiously, every player starts from the same conditions.Keywords: monopoly; game; heterotopia; rules; land value.[read more…]

Editorial. Halfway

In 1455, a few years after inventing movable types, the first book that Gutenberg printed was the Bible. Perhaps that is why we inherited the idea that printed matter is not only what must be available for the public sphere – ‘published’- but also what deserves to be preserved in a physical medium: paper. Although that intention may still be valid, the massification of printing in recent decades allows questioning the format: does everything need to be published and preserved? Could it rather be that we publish following the anxiety for inserting ourselves into a bigger story, with the faint hope that the future will reckon what we are doing today?

The publishing excess must be checked against the mathematical impossibility that everything is worthwhile. Of course, that includes us. In this age of suspicion, as defined by Boris Groys (2018:41) critique – and above all self-critique – is an intellectual duty. That is the spirit behind this issue 100 of ARQ. Since despite the drive to celebrate, we could not stop wondering, what should we celebrate? Mere survival? Clearly not. Or at least, that is not what prompts us.

Still, there is room for tributes such as Fabrizio Gallanti’s surrealist exercise, whose seductive incoherence rejects any attempt to present ARQ as a monolithic organ. Or that of Alberto Sato to Montserrat Palmer, editor of our journal throughout its first 30 years, focusing on her physiological curatorial strategies. However, instead of bragging about what has been accomplished in the 38 years during which these 100 issues have been published, we intend to ask ourselves what is the meaning of what has been done.

To expand this self-critical look, we present one hundred projects published in the previous 99 issues. Avoiding the tyranny of rankings – and the waste of testosterone they imply – we chose a different strategy. We invited ten architects to select ten projects. Each of them offers a specific argument that frames the selection. We present thus a plural vision to ARQ’s historical archive that, raising divergent arguments and coming from different generations and intellectual positions, allows us to look at our journal in unexpected ways.

Diego Grass selects projects that mixed generations or brought together different architects, as a background for the genealogy of “Patrician Architecture” he introduces. Romy Hecht observes the (in)visibility of women in the architecture published by ARQ, highlighting the prejudices embedded in our journal. Cristian Izquierdo seeks those arguments that, despite being formulated a long time ago, still remain valid. Patricio Mardones – ARQ’s editor between 2010 and 2014 – spots the moments when the journal was proven right in backing certain unknown projects and architects. Pia Montealegre presents cases where spatial justice was the argument behind the publication of certain architectures. Through photography, Cristobal Palma takes the skeletons out of the closet to show how some of the buildings published in ARQ have better withstood the passage of time than that of critique. Jose Quintanilla demonstrates, through his ten examples, how the magazine has considered heritage as an important branch of architecture. Across her selection, Camila Reyes argues that ARQ has been a promoter of alternative practices and, therefore, a means to discuss the boundaries of our discipline. Wren Strabucci presents those published examples that were influential to debates that took place within the School of Architecture UC – to which the journal belongs. Finally, Nicolas Stutzin detects those projects published extemporaneously arguing for an understanding of journals as devices capable of making mistakes and correcting them a posteriori.

But not everything can revolve around self-indulgence or self-flagellation. We must also present new issues andproblems. Thus, Celedon and Garcia de Cortazar study how the building of Chile’s National Library introduced the architecture of cataloging and storing a hundred years ago. And Gonzalo Carrasco observes that the 10 × 10 squares of Monopoly are not only a mirror of the ways in which we understand the city but also a model that helps to naturalize the economic logic of a metropolis. Both texts take the number 100 – yes, the figure – as an excuse to explore more comprehensive problems. After all, that’s what a journal should be about, isn’t it?

The worst thing that could ever happen to an architecture magazine is that the reader flips through it only to confirm that everything remains the same. That is to say, that its pages echo common sense or fashion trends and, after browsing it, it leaves us right where we started. Just like for Bordieu (2014:65) the role of science was to discuss common sense, ARQ must overcome commonplaces and explore unknown territories. Since (among other things) we are a scientific journal, we have a duty to advance knowledge. Such path involves risks and mistakes, but it is certainly more refreshing than the comfort zone. The impossibility of knowing whether what we are doing will matter in the future or not allows us to look at the present without anxiety. 100 issues ago, it was uncertain how far the magazine would go. Today, we do not know either. That is the beauty of it.
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